Joan Miro (Spanish Artist)

Biography

Joan Miro was the son of a watchmaker and a goldsmith mother. He was born on 20th April, 1893 in Barcelona. He began drawing when he was 8 years old and had later yielded to his parents’ persistence and became a bookkeeper.

In 1911, joined the School of Industrial and Fine Arts in Barcelona. His early works show that he was deeply influenced by Paul Cezanne and the Fauvists. His first show in 1918 was a failure but inspired by the bustling arts community in France, Miro moved to Paris in 1920. He became friends with Picasso, the dealer Pierre Matisse, Max Ernst, and other leading artists.

In 1947, he moved to Spain and later visited the US. He was an instant success in the US and his income grew because of the sales generated from the galleries. In 1954, he was awarded a prize at the Venice Biennale. By late 1960s, he focused more on public and monumental works.

Miro received an honorary doctorate from the University of Barcelona in 1972 and the Gold Medal of Fine Arts in 1980. Miro, who was a cardiac patient died in his home in Palma on Christmas day, 25th December, 1983.

Guide For Collectors

As there are many fakes of Joan Miro in the art market, it is advised to buy a Joan Miro artwork with authentic certificates from the editor, printer, or The Joan Miro Foundation. Unfortunately, do check the authenticity of these Certificates as some of these certificates really guarantee very little. Do not buy a reproduction that is trying to be passed off as an original and always check the size of the print against its documentation.

A small tip for those who intend to buy an original Joan Miro painting is that Miro’s paintings are extremely bright and colorful and he was rarely non-objective. The paintings are more of a symbolic, schematic language although some of them are stylized or deformed.

Throughout the twenties, Miro developed the pictorial sign language, which can be seen in Harlequin's Carnival and The Tilled Field. During his middle years, Miro was more involved in collages, which later materialized in to his surrealist sculptures. The simple collages like Spanish Dancer were a counterpoint to his paintings.

As he grew older, his style also changed and it was mainly celestial symbolism. His artworks can be found at Joan Miro Foundation in Montjuic, Barcelona and at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, Musee National d’Art Moderne in Paris, The Grand Palais in Paris, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and The Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Italy.

Most Expensive Works

Joan Miro was considered the most expensive surrealist artist in terms of the auction revenue, his paintings generated. His oil painting ‘La caresse des etoiles’ went to an unknown bidder for a mammoth $17 Million on 6 May 2008 at an auction in Christie's New York. The same painting had fetched $10.5 Million during a November 2004 auction. In other words, it appreciated by 45% within four years.

The Auction house Drouot stated that a Miro painting “Blue Star” was sold in Paris sometime during late December, 2007 for $16.7 Million against its estimated price of $10 Million.

On 6th November 2001, Joan Miro’s “Paysage sur les bords du fleuve Amour” fetched $11 Million, which was about $4 Million more than its estimate.

The painting “Le soleil rouge ronge l'araignee” fetched $7.7 Million at an auction in Christie’s New York on 1st November, 2005. Another painting “Peinture (Femme se poudrant)” that was auctioned on 23rd June, 2009, at Christie’s New York went for $6.5 million ($2 Million more than the estimated price). The buyer’s premium has been included in all the auctioned prices.

Most Famous Works

Miro's prominent paintings can fetch a price anywhere between $17 Million and $25,000 thousand. There are also signed prints that go for anywhere between $2,000 and $250,000.

As there are so many of Miro’s works, it is difficult to identify which are his most famous works. One of Miro's famous and most expensive works that was lost during the 11th September attack was the tapestry he did for the World Trade Center building in New York City. Another one of his famous watercolor works that was auctioned for $13 Million at Christie's, London on 18th June 2007 was “Le Coq”. The same painting had been earlier auctioned for $3 Million on 24th June, 2003 at Christie's, London.

Some of his famous works that are about to be sold (from Christie’s, New York) during the month of November, 2011 are "Compositionmate" which is estimated between ($25,000 and $35,000), "Portesestimate" which is estimated between ($150,000 and $250,000) and "Projet pour l'affiche Congrès des Pédiatres de Llengua Catalanaestimate" which is estimated between ($80,000 and $120,000).

The other paintings that are scheduled to go under the hammer on 2nd and 3rd November, 2011 at Sotheby’s, New York include Vol d'oiseaux entourant le jaune d'un éclair (Estimated between $1.5 and $2 Million), Planche a repasser (Estimated between $1 and 1.5 Million), Femmes dans la nuit (Estimated between 900,000 and $1.2 Million), Personnage (Estimated between $500,000 and $700,000), Personnage (Estimated between $220,000 and $350,000), "Au Paradis des Fantomes" (Estimated between $20,000 and $30,000) and Composition (Estimated between $150,000 and $250,000).